Syn's got The Rips. Stitch is standing in the middle of the living room while Syn goes over the couch, through the crate, over me, under Stitch, around the dog bed and up on the couch again. Her head is up, her tail is down, and she's on her 8th lap.

There's nothing like a shave, pedicure and bath to make a girl feel GOOOOOD.

I haven't had clippers on her since she was 7 1/2 weeks old, and that was pretty much a matter of holding on and trying to keep her occupied with dog food while taking the hair on her bum off. Just like the Training Levels, though, the more you work on building up competency and understanding in all areas, the more the ideas flow over into times when you need them. I put Little Miss on the grooming table, laid her down on her side, and ground her nails. She tried to get up on one elbow a few times, but I just laid her back down and she put her head down and went to sleep until I was done.

Then I put a gob of peanut butter on the wall and shaved her hips and tail. Then I laid her back down and did her lower legs, then sat her up and did her face. The peanut butter lasted through the hips. After that she just stood (or lay or sat) as I wanted her to with no fussing at all. Lovely! Finish it off with a bath and blow dry and she's looking pretty cute.

Her teenage period has begun now that she has a couple of real teeth poking through the gums. She's decided that she doesn't have to go in her crate when it's bedtime. In fact she doesn't have to go in her crate ANY time. It's much more fun to dance around behind me rurr-rurrring to see if she can get me to forget I asked.

Now this situation is quite specific. If she knows I have food, she's DIVING into the crate. The problem is that I've asked her to go in the crate a few times over the last couple of days - and I haven't paid for it when she did. And now I'm paying for it.

I thought a little teasing might make her a little more willing to gamble on the possibilities, so every time she refused (I only asked her three or four times, having no memory and temporarily forgetting that she had refused the last time I asked her) I get a few treats and gave them, one at a time, to Stitch. That made Syn crazy but didn't translate into her wanting to go in her crate.

So I did what I should have done in the first place - started to teach it again from the beginning. We've passed the first instance in the Levels where I have to ask her to do something (sit, I think) without having food available, but sit is a lot cheaper behaviour than going in her crate is. I'm going to work the crate up until she'll do it anytime with no obvious food in sight or smell. This week's priority.